James Reasoner Interview

 

Next we have Prolific author James Reasoner under the microscope.

Hi James, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for inviting me.

 

What does a typical writing day look like for you?

For decades, I would deal with email and other matters right after breakfast and then I’d be at the computer writing by ten o’clock in the morning. Write until lunch about one, back to work by two, write until six o’clock.  I could start earlier or write later to make a deadline if I had to. These days, as I get older, morning and lunch are about the same as they’ve always been, but I get tired sooner and usually stop for the day between four and five in the afternoon.

 

How many words do you aim to write in a day when working on a novel?

I like to get 2000 words written in a day. I don’t always make it. A really good day is 3000 or more.

 

Are you a detailed outliner or do you discover the story as you write?

I’ve written books in almost every way you can think of, from having a very detailed outline of seventy or eighty pages to having only a vague idea of what to do and just launching into the story. I will say I wrote those long outlines only because that was what the publisher wanted. I never particularly liked doing them. I like to have some structure established going into a book, though. An outline/synopsis of five to eight pages works really well for me. That keeps me from going off-track (usually) and still allows room for improvisation as I go along. Some of my best characters and scenes are nowhere to be found in the outline, they just came to me as I wrote and I was able to make them work.

 

How has your writing process changed since you published your first book?

Mechanically, it’s vastly different since I wrote my first novel in the fall of 1978. The first draft of that one was done in longhand, in a spiral notebook with a fountain pen. My first few novels were all first-drafted in longhand. My wife Livia would type up those handwritten drafts, I would read over them and make revisions, then she would type a submission draft putting in those revisions. But from a creative standpoint, I’m not sure it’s changed much. I’ve always had an idea where a book is going and just try to get there.

 

What are your favorite western series’ that you’ve worked on?

There are almost too many to remember! I was very fond of the Cody’s Law series, a Texas Ranger series I did for Book Creations Inc. and Bantam. I thought the Wind River books Livia and I did for Harper were very good. The Longarm novels I wrote under the house-name Tabor Evans for Berkley were great fun, allowing me to indulge in some over-the-top plots and offbeat humor while still putting in plenty of action. And Longarm was just a great character to write.

 

Do you revise as you go, or complete a first draft before editing?

I start each day by editing and revising what I wrote the day before. Livia edits the books after I’m done with them and makes suggestions for revisions, and I go over the manuscript again while I’m making those changes. So there are at least three passes through every book before it’s submitted, and often, parts of it will have been edited and revised several more times to straighten out any problems that crop up.

 

What advice would you give to writers trying to build a disciplined writing routine?

Ed Gorman once told me, “A writer is somebody who sits in a room and types for 30 years.” That’s very true. Dennis Lynds told me, “If you work hard enough at it, your writing dreams will come true. It’ll just take ten years longer than you think it should.” And I read somewhere that being a writer is like having homework every day for the rest of your life. I think all of those things are very true. Discipline really is the key. Trying to write a set number of pages or words every day is very helpful. And aim high. You can probably do more than you think you can. Over time, you discover the pace that works the best for you, and once you’ve figured that out, stick to it. Now, I’ve never been a write-every-day sort of writer. I take days off. When I write for too many days in a row, I feel like I start to burn out mentally. But at the same time, I’m pretty persistent about writing five or six days a week. Aim high, stick with it, and you’ll figure out what works best for you.

 

You’ve just started with a new publisher writing a new series. I’ve read the first book (Johnny Colt: Blood on the Wire) and loved it. How are things going on that front?

Dusty Saddle Publishing has been great to work with, very fast on their end, and they’ve given me a free hand to write the sort of books I want to write. I’m really pleased with how the Johnny Colt books have turned out so far.

 

What kinds of books do you read for pleasure?

Oh, almost every kind of fiction! I love books and have for as far back as I can remember. I read more Westerns and mysteries than anything else, but I’m also fond of science fiction and historical fiction. I tend to read mostly older books in those genres. I’m a big fan of the pulp magazine era, roughly the first half of the Twentieth Century, and read actual pulps from that era as well as modern-day reprints of those stories and novels. But I still read current novels, too, and enjoy them.

 

How much of your reading is research versus relaxation?

Well, it’s all research in a way, isn’t it? But as far as strictly reading research books, maybe 5-10%, enough to get things right, which I think is important. I think I got a decent education in high school and college, but my real education for my career consisted of uncounted hours reading old paperbacks and comic books.

 

Are there any authors you return to again and again?

Robert E. Howard, not only for his writing ability, which was enormous, but also because of the kinship I feel with him for being determined to make it as a writer from a small town in Texas. The pulp Western writer Leslie Scott, who wrote as Bradford Scott, A. Leslie, and under the house-name Jackson Cole, because his work never fails to entertain me. There are many, many writers whose work I read consistently, but those two stand out for me.

 

What book are you reading right now?

I’m reading the August 7, 1937 issue of the Western pulp WILD WEST WEEKLY. An 89-year-old physical copy, not a reprint. Don’t get me wrong, I love pulp reprints, but there’s something special about holding the real thing in your hands. This copy is in pretty good shape, too.

 

Do you prefer physical books, ebooks, or audiobooks?

My reading is split almost equally between ebooks and physical books. The older I get, the more I tend toward ebooks because I can adjust the font and the way they look. I hate to say it, but I own a lot of print books I’ll probably never read because the font is just too small for my aging eyes. I’ve listened to a few audiobooks in the past, but for some reason they just don’t work as well for me. I guess my eyes have to be involved in the process.

 

How has your reading taste evolved over the years?

I’m not sure it has! I still like action and adventure and still read authors I first discovered more than sixty years ago.

 

Top 3 western authors you’ve read? Past and present.

Leslie Scott, as I mentioned above. Luke Short, whose real name was Frederick Glidden. Walt Coburn, incredibly inconsistent but when he was at the top of his game, nobody was better or more authentic. There are many, many great Western writers in the business today, but I’m friends with most of them so I’ll keep my list to those who have passed on.

 

Which authors have had the greatest influence on your work?

Bob Howard, without a doubt. I try to bring the same excitement to my work. If he had written more Westerns, he would have been included in my answer to the previous question.

 

What first sparked your interest in Western fiction?

Before I started reading much, I was a huge fan of the Western movies that ran all the time on TV starring Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy, and my all-time favorite Western hero is The Lone Ranger. So those were my introduction to Western fiction. Not long after that, I began reading books by Zane Grey, Max Brand, and Clarence E. Mulford (Hopalong Cassidy again, the original version), as well as entries from a series known as the Powder Valley Westerns by Peter Field (a house-name, as I came to find out later, but I had no concept of that at the time). The first regular paperback I bought was a Western called BIGGER THAN TEXAS by William R. Cox, and I also read Western paperbacks that my uncle owned.

 

Have any non-Western writers or genres shaped your storytelling?

So many, starting with Robert E. Howard. But there are a ton of hardboiled mystery writers who have influenced me, too, such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, Davis Dresser (the original Brett Halliday), John D. MacDonald, Richard S. Prather, Robert Leslie Bellem . . . I could go on listing them all day. Leslie Charteris, whose Saint series is one of my all-time favorites. Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose books are a master’s course in adventure writing and yarn-spinning. I can’t forget Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko, either, along with all the other writers and artists who produced the comic books I read so avidly for so many years.

 

Where do you usually find ideas for your novels and characters?

Many of them have come to me while I’m driving, especially on long trips. I’ve figured out the rough plots for many books while behind the wheel. Livia and I often plot books together, and we’ve done that not only on trips but also over more restaurant meals than I can count. As for the creative inspiration for those ideas and characters, I don’t really know. They just live in my head and force their way out from time to time. Also in my career, there have been a number of instances where an editor has asked me to write a novel about a specific subject, like the Gold Rush or World War II. I’ve always been pretty good at assignments like that, too.

 

What separates a memorable Western novel from an average one?

The characters and the author’s ability to take traditional elements and make something new and fresh out of them, and I think those two things absolutely go together.

 

Looking back on your career, what lesson about writing do you wish you had learned sooner?

That hard work and persistence pay off. You can make it on sheer talent, of course, but self-discipline is a huge help. When Livia and I got married, I had been trying to write, off and on, for years with no success. She said to me, “If you want to make it as a writer, you’re going to have to work at it.” Four months later, I sold my first story to a magazine. Best advice I ever got.

Bonus Question:

If you could spend an afternoon talking with any deceased Western writer, who would it be and what would you ask?

Walt Coburn, and I’d ask him about his life (he grew up on a ranch in Montana) and what it was like writing for the Western pulps at their peak.

Once again, James, thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing what comes next.